Rationalists
of East Tennessee Newsletter June 2009
Noted: RET’s
celebration of the National Day of Reason was a great success. Over two dozen
people, including some new faces, came out for grilled hot dogs and veggie
burgers and great weather at Carl Cowan Park. We’ll do it again next year but
let’s find some more reasons to have picnics together before then.
Speaking of picnics, reserve the date of September 20th! The West North
Carolina Atheists have reserved the beautiful shelter at Lake Julian in
Asheville again for our second annual regional atheists picnic. Last year,
several dozen RETers trekked to Asheville to meet with the WNC Atheists and
other regional atheist groups for a potluck picnic. Over 50 people turned out
for a fantastic day. This year, we expect to grow, seeing as there is a new
Atheist and Freethought club at ETSU. There’s always room for co-ed atheists!

News of interest:The May
11th edition of the Knoxville News-Sentinel contained a letter that took a
swipe at RET. The writer argued that RET was hypocritical because ‘removing
religious references’ from government buildings supports atheism and is
therefore not constitutional. As I type this, two letters from RETers
made the paper (May 18th, and 19th) from Ralph Isler and Al Westerfield and
beautifully rebutted the original.
This public discussion was a direct result of Ed Buckner’s visit. The Sentinel
ran a story on Ed’s talk on May 4th and shined some well-deserved light on
rationalism in general. Everyone should jump at opportunities to engage other
citizens in the free marketplace of ideas.
One obstacle, however, is the pitfall of name-calling or coming across as being
too flippant, arrogant, or glib. The letter-writer panning RET focused on the
use of the word “nut-job” which our speaker supposedly used at some point.
While you could certainly debate semantics or the definition of “nut-job” and
whether it is or is not valid, it’d be besides the point. The clear fact is
that some language and tone distract, causing your attempts to persuade to
fail. Knowing this, we should realize it’s irrational to resort to name-calling
or baiting in an argument. Let’s keep our arguments on message, and make
them public.Observation:I saw an
ad in the paper for The Knox County Church of Christ that was in a question
& answer format. The question was something like, “Is it OK to use musical
instruments during worship service”? The answer was “No” and what struck me was
the argument, which went something like this: The bible doesn’t specifically
authorize the use of instruments or dancing during worship service, therefore,
this behavior is condemned.
So, the logic is this: Premise 1: Not mentioning you can do a specific behavior
is equal to condemning that behavior. Premise 2: Bible doesn’t say you can do
X. Therefore, X is condemned. Hmmm, given this logic, I’d say there are an
awful lot of things that are condemned by the bible. They had an e-mail address
and next time I see the ad, I think I’m going to reply and see if I understand
their argument correctly.
___________________________________________________________________________ Roundtable Discussion - "Frankenpig, Mr. Potato Head, and the Ethics of
Eating"Discussant,
Daryl Learn Houston.
Sunday, June 7, 10:30-12:30, Pellissippi State, Goins Administration Bldg.,
Cafeteria Annex.

Michael Pollan, in a book entitled "The Omnivore's Dilemma," outlines
the conundrum the omnivore faces. In a nutshell: if your body is equipped to
digest most anything, how do you decide which things to eat? This problem
operates at a very basic level in that we must figure out what won't kill us.
But as our culture over thousands of years has left us a pretty good record of
what is safe to eat, the problem, for those who choose to consider it, becomes
a matter of ethics. For example, how do we justify eating meat at all, since we
can extract protein and fat from other food sources? What about the ethics of
culinary decadence in the face of starvation, even in the first world? These
points and a number of others concerning cultural aspects of eating habits will
form the topic of the discussion.

“Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human
Body" by Neil Shubin. If you decide to buy the book, please consider
clicking on the book on the RET homepage and buying it from Amazon. RET gets
money from any products purchased after going through our website first.
___________________________________________________________________________ Philosophy Sunday
Sunday, June 21, 10:30 - 12:30, Pellissippi State, Goins Administration Bldg.,
Cafeteria Annex
Discussant: John Muldowny, Ph.D

Dr. Muldowny plans to talk a little about the disaster and its aftermath, but
for the most part will discuss the Titanic as a cultural event and phenomena.
Why has this event so captured the imagination of the world so that countless
books, films, and traveling exhibits of artifacts have centered around this
event, that the Library of Congress for example has next to the Civil War more
requests for information about the Titanic than any other event in history? Dr.
Muldown will suggest some of his theories about all of these topics.
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